Many extravagant superstitions grew up round Betony, one, of very ancient date, was that serpents would fight and kill each other if placed within a ring composed of it; and others declared that even wild beasts recognized its efficacy and used it if wounded, and that stags, if wounded with a dart, would search out Betony, and, eating it, be cured. Betony was endowed with power against evil spirits. On this account, it was carefully planted in churchyards and hung about the neck as an amulet or charm, sanctifying, as Erasmus tells us, 'those that carried it about them,' and being also 'good against fearful visions' and an efficacious means of 'driving away devils and despair. ^{Grieve, Maude A Modern Herbal Vol 1 (1931)}

Wood betony was the most beloved of the bewitching herbs. It was used to bathe children who were possessed or bewtiched, it was believed the bathwater washed away the bad magic. The esteem in which betony was held can be appreciated in the Italian saying Venda la onica e compra beonica "Sell your coat and buy betony". ^{Claudia Muller-Ebeling, Wolf-Deieter Storl Witchcraft Medicine(1998)}